Four Yemeni soldiers were killed on Monday and three others wounded during clashes with gunmen in southeastern province of Hadramout, military sources said.

The fighting occurred during an army raid of a house of " terrorist elements" in the coastal city of Mukalla, Hadramout's provincial capital, the sources said on condition of anonymity.

"The clashes left four soldiers killed and three others injured, including an officer. Four militants and their vehicle and weapons were seized," one source said.

Also on Monday, suspected al-Qaida gunmen killed three intelligence officers in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa in two separate attacks, a day after four U.S. drone strikes killed at least 34 al-Qaida militants in the south of the country.

The Yemen-based al-Qaida offshoot has frequently staged revenge attacks on local targets, including military ones, and foreign missions in the impoverished Arab country.

Earlier on Monday, an intelligence official, citing unconfirmed reports, said Ibrahim al-Asiri, a master bomb-maker of al-Qaida in

the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), "may have been killed in a drone strike in Shabwa late Sunday night."

Al-Asiri is a wanted Saudi militant accused of making bombs used in a string of high-profile attacks by the AQAP since mid- 2009.

The AQAP, which emerged in January 2009, is considered the most serious strategic threat to the Yemeni government and neighboring oil-rich Saudi Arabia. Endi

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